Chapter 295

Chapter 295

“That nobleman, I think he’s looking at you.”

Delay said.

“Do you think so too?”

“Yeah, I think I see you.”

I wasn’t mistaken.

“I guess…

Clearly, the nobleman on the left was looking at himself.

“But why?

It was strange. He couldn’t understand why she was looking at him with such an unpleasant smile. Ming Hu furrowed his brow slightly and turned his head to look at Revil.

“Mr. Revill.”

“Yes?”

Revill, who had been looking around the stadium and its surroundings, looked at Ming Hu when he called out to him, wondering why he had called him.

“By any chance, do you know who that nobleman is who’s waiting over there on the far left?”

At his next words, Revil turned his head to see the nobleman waiting at the far left.

“…Ah!”

He let out an exclamation of understanding, then turned back to look at Ming Hu and opened his mouth to speak.

“Count Haputa, ruler of the Astalan region of the Aman Empire.”

“Count Haputa.

The nobleman staring at her turned out to be Count Haputa, ruler of the Astalan region. At first, she thought it was a nobleman she had met at the party but didn’t recognize.

“I’ve never seen this before…

But now that he had heard the name, he was certain that it was a nobleman he had never met before.

“But why is that…?”

Revil asked Ming Hu, who was still looking at Haputa and thinking, a puzzled expression on his face.

“Oh, you’ve been staring at me, so I thought I’d ask if you were someone I knew from the party, but I don’t recognize you.”

“Oh.”

Revil nodded in understanding at Myung Hu’s answer. But that nod was short-lived, as Revil frowned and turned to look at Haputa in disbelief.

“…?”

Ming Hu was puzzled by Revill’s reaction. Why did he suddenly react like that?

Sigh

As if sensing Ming Hu’s gaze, Revil looked at Haputa and then back at Ming Hu. Revil’s expression became a little more serious.

“My lord.”

Revil, looking serious, called out to Ming Hu.

“Yes.”

Ming Hu, who had been wondering why Revil was reacting this way anyway, quickly answered.

“I, Count Haputa… I think you should be careful.”

“…Yes?”

Revill’s next words left Ming Hu with a question.

“Careful?

Why be cautious?

“Count Haputa is a man of Amurat. I’m not sure, but I think–“

Revil’s words trailed off. But even with that, Ming Hu could tell what Revil was trying to say.

“In a competition?

It was hard to believe, but that’s exactly what Revill was saying.

“It’s a contest… is that possible?”

“Believe it or not, the Amurat that I know… is capable of doing crazy things like that.”

“I see…”

Ming Hu nodded in understanding and looked at Haputa, who was still staring at him.

That was the moment.

“Now let the dueling contest begin.”

The knight above the stadium shouted. The knight’s voice echoed through the stadium and into the surrounding bleachers, thanks to the amplification enchantment. At the knight’s shout, Ming Hu turned his gaze from Haputa to the knight and thought.

“Is this the beginning.

It was finally happening.

“Please come upstairs.”

The article continued.

Jumbled

At the call to come up, the haputa on the left and the noble on the right began to climb onto the field. Once they were on the field and facing each other, they simply bowed their heads in greeting.

“The rules are simple.”

The article started talking. Apparently, there was no introduction to the contestants, as it went straight to explaining the rules.

“If you admit defeat or leave the arena, you will be deemed to have lost. Also, if it is deemed impossible to continue the duel, I will stop the duel and let the judges decide the winner.”

The knight continued for a while. Ming Hu thought as he listened.

‘Being powerful is not good for this…’

He didn’t know who he would be dueling with, but whoever it was, if he was attacked, he would surely die. It was a shame that his strength was so high in this situation.

‘OTC. I’ll have to go over the counter.

Ming Hu decides to use the off-the-field defeat rule: if you leave the field, you lose.

“Then let the first duel begin.”

While Ming Hu was thinking, the knight who had explained all the rules finished speaking and retreated from the arena.

Swoosh swoosh

As the knight retreated, Haputa and the other nobleman bowed again in greeting and drew their swords from their belts, pointing them at each other.

“…”

“…”

Haputa and the other nobleman began to probe each other with their swords pointed at each other, but after a moment of probing, or perhaps a sign of weakness, Haputa made his move.

Suk

Haputa quickly stepped forward and thrust his sword into the other noble’s chest.

“Hmph!”

The other noble, not expecting an attack so soon, quickly took a step back and swung his sword to parry Haputa’s blade.

Ting!

The clash of sword against sword resounded with a clear sound. Ming Hu was a little surprised by the clear sound.

“What, is there an amplification spell on the stadium itself?

No matter how close we were to the stadium, there was still some distance between the field and the bleachers, but the sound was as clear as if we were right in front of it.

“…huh?

However, Ming Hu soon realized what was happening on the field, so he stopped thinking about the sound and turned his attention to the game.

Thrrrr

The other noble, who had blocked Hafuta’s attack, immediately swung his sword at Hafuta in an attempt to counterattack. As if he knew this, however, Hafuta easily dodged the blow and dived into the noble’s body, slamming his shoulder into the noble’s chest.

“Boom!”

The other noble stumbled backward in pain from Haputa’s shoulder strike, but Haputa’s attack wasn’t over. After sending the other noble stumbling backward with his shoulder strike, Haputa swung his sword at the other noble’s sword.

Boom!

“Suck!”

Once again, a clear sound rang out as sword clashed with sword, and at the same time, the sword in the opposing noble’s hand rose into the air. Naturally, the sword fell to the arena floor shortly afterward.

“…lost.”

Seeing the sword leave his hand and fall to the arena floor, the opposing noble immediately opened his mouth to speak with a bitter expression.

“Man, this is kind of embarrassing.

He may have spoken quietly, but the amplifying magic in the arena made the other noble’s voice come through loud and clear. Ming Hu looked at the winner of the duel, Haputa, realizing that it would be embarrassing to admit defeat.

‘…’

Ming Hu couldn’t help but frown slightly at the sight of Haputa, who was looking at him with that same unpleasant smile he’d first seen on her face.

“The winner is Count Hafuta of the Aman Empire.”

The knight, who had ridden onto the field, opened his mouth to shout. Unsurprisingly, there was no applause or cheering.

“Please go downstairs.”

The knight continued. At the knight’s words, Haputa turned and walked down the arena, and the other nobleman also rose from his seat, picked up his sword from the floor, and walked down.

Jumbled

As they descended, the nobles for the second duel ascended. As the two nobles ascended to the arena, they met face to face and exchanged a brief greeting.

“Let the second duel begin.”

The knight finished his sentence and headed down the arena. As if waiting for the knight to descend, the two nobles drew their respective weapons.

“Ho, Mace?

One was a sword and one was a mace. The nobles usually used swords, so the mace-wielding nobles stood out quite a bit. Of course, it was noticeable, but that’s all it was.

“Eek!”

The nobleman holding the mace let out a groan of pain and lost his grip on the mace. The nobleman with the sword was victorious. And so the second game ended and the third began.

“I, Count Minghu.”

Ming Hu was watching the game when he heard a voice from under the bleachers and turned away from the field to see who it was.

“The Count’s match is about to begin. I’ll escort you to the waiting room.”

The voice was the driver.

“Oh, yeah.”

At the knight’s words, Ming Hu rose from his seat.

“I’ll be right back. I’ll be right back.”

He spoke to Delay and Revill, and then began to walk down the bleachers, following the knight.

“This is the waiting room.”

It wasn’t long before Ming Hu was able to reach the waiting room at the back of the arena. Already in the waiting area were nobles who appeared to be participants in the dueling tournament. Ming Hu glanced at the nobles, then walked over to an empty seat and sat down to wait.

That was the moment.

“You must be Count Minghu, right?”

“…?”

At the sound of a voice calling out to him, Ming Hu turned his head to see who it was.

“…Haputa?

Ming Hu was a little surprised, for it was none other than Haputa who called out to him.

“I hope you’ll come up.”

Haputa spoke to Ming Hu with his trademark unpleasant smile, then turned and disappeared again. Ming Hu watched Haputa return to his seat and thought.

‘He’s crazy.

It was like an NPC with a slight programming error. Ming Hu turned his gaze away from Hafuta and back to the arena. The duel currently taking place in the arena was more intense than any duel he had ever seen, perhaps because the two nobles dueling were of similar levels.

“My lord count, I think it’s time for you to go.”

Ming Hu, watching the duel, jumped to his feet at the sound of the knight’s voice in his ear.

“This way…”

I followed the driver to the stadium.

“The winner is Marquis Masgal of the Kingdom of Polapun. Please proceed downstairs.”

As soon as they reached the stadium, the game ended as if they had been waiting. Ming Hu watched the man descend the stairs.

“The Marquis of Masgal.

Descending the stairs, the nobleman smiled triumphantly. It was clear that the Marquis of Masgal was the winner of this duel. The Marquis de Masgal bowed his head slightly in greeting, then pushed past Ming Hu and headed for the waiting room.

“You can go upstairs.”

Jumbled

At the knight’s words, Ming Hu went up to the arena, and as he walked toward the center of the arena, he saw a nobleman coming from the opposite direction. The noble was indeed a gigantic man, with a fearsome appearance. If this wasn’t where they had met, you would have thought he was a rogue NPC.

“Let the eighth duel begin.”

Soon the knight finished speaking and rode down the arena. As the knight descended, a gruff-looking nobleman drew a huge sword. Of course, Ming Hu didn’t draw his sword.

“…You mean you’re going to duel without a sword?”

The gruff-looking nobleman said with a furrowed brow. Ming Hu smiled at the nobleman’s words and raised his hand to show his knuckles.

“This is my weapon”

“…I’ll make you regret it.”

Perhaps thinking that he had ignored him, the nobleman’s expression grew even more fierce and he began to run toward Ming Hu.

“Crap!”

With a shout of triumph, he swung the great sword he carried. Ming Hu raised his hand to catch the sword as it flew toward him.

Chin.

The nobleman’s great sword, which had accompanied the sound of the wind, was inevitably caught in Ming Hu’s hand.

“…?”

A question mark instantly appeared on the harsh nobleman’s face. Ming Hu smiled at the nobleman’s look of disbelief, reached out with his right hand that wasn’t gripping his sword and grabbed the nobleman’s clothes, and began walking toward the end of the arena.

“…Huh? Huh? What!”

The nobleman was dragged by Ming Hu so lightly that, unbefitting his enormous size, he cried out in a panicked voice as he was dragged along. Hearing the nobleman’s panicked cries, Ming Hu, who had reached the end of the stadium, looked down into the arena.

“It won’t hurt.

The stadium wasn’t very high, and I didn’t think a fall would hurt me.

“Be careful.”

Still, just in case, Ming Hu told the nobleman to be careful and threw him out of the arena.

“그게 무..어어어어억!”

Ming Hu heard the nobleman’s screams and turned around, then began walking back toward the center of the arena. Soon he reached the center and looked at the knight, who was still outside the arena.

“Why aren’t they coming?

The duel had already been decided by an off-the-field decision, and the knight was still staring at the arena, not bothering to climb up. However, as if sensing Ming Hu’s gaze, the knight came to his senses and quickly climbed up onto the arena.

“S, the winner is…”

Then, unlike ever before, he opened his mouth to speak, stuttering and shouting.

“Heh, I’m Count Minghu of the Helioca Empire.”